Industrial production growth likely fell to 3.4% in December

Moody's Investors Service forecasts industrial production (IP) growth to slow down to 3.4% YoY from 5.2% last month.

According to a report, IP growth has cooled since August, as a high base from a year earlier has inhibited gains.

Although external demand is expected to remain favourable in 2018 and support demand for semiconductors and electronics, which was especially firm in 2017, the high base from a year earlier is likely to inhibit growth in coming months.

Markit PMI fell by 3.3 points to 52.1 in December, suggesting "the local private sector ended 2017 on a softer note," Moody's said.